To The Gates Of Death
by Soon to be world renown Gracie
Summary: I got this idea from a story I read but I have no idea who wrote it. If you did tell me and I will be happy to take it off this site or give you credit or whatever. Anyway, Sage and Rowen are in an accident and Rowen has to save his soul. Complete!
1. Default Chapter

"Oh man." Rowen stared at the clock next to the hospital bed. It'd been three hours. Just three hours since she had fallen asleep. Not that it mattered. She could've slept for a week and Sage still wouldn't have woken up. The American doctors said that it was very likely he would just die without waking up.  
  
Cale had pulled a fast one on them. He had made Rowen attack her love. Now he was in a coma. He had probably hurt her worse than she hurt him, so why was he still out of it? She had woken up after the first few days, he hadn't. So they were forced to sit here. Watching as their friend slowly died of wounds inflicted by Sage's lover. Rowen wanted to cry, but she figured that she had cried enough in this last month to last a lifetime.  
  
Cye and Kento walked in, arguing quietly about something unimportant, but stopped when they saw Rowen.  
  
She looked horrible. Her blue hair was all over the place. Her face was red where she had laid it on her arm to sleep, and she had a large scar on her right cheek. It was from Sage's sword; made when they fought each other.  
  
Without Sage's healing powers she hadn't fully healed from their fight. She still had a limp and wrote with her right hand since her left refused to bend that way. Doctors said that her hand was permanately crippled. That put a damper on doing anything easily. She was lefthanded. The guys still had to help her do miniscule stuff. Button her shirt, cut her food, things like that.  
  
~~@~~(flashback music here)  
  
Sage had her down on the ground. He pinned her down with his sword. She looked and saw her bow on her left side. Good. Makes things easy. She could knock him down with her bow and try to get Sage to see her instead of Cale.  
  
He saw that move and stopped her with a foot on her hand. Her hand was twisted with the thumb up. She looked up at him.  
  
"No you don't, Cale." He tsk-tsked and stomped as hard as he could on her hand.  
  
She screamed and started sobbing in pain.  
  
I have to..Oh God...I have to hurt him. I have to...just to save my life... She realized. With a burst of strength, she threw Sage off of her, and grabbed an arrow. She tried to get up but couldn't with her leg sending pain through her body. Her hand and ribs weren't helping. So, she positioned her arrow in her right hand and waited, knowing that Sage would come back. When he did, he was mad. He slashed at her cheek, cutting it down to the bone. Then stabbed his sword into her side. Oh, God. Please no. She screamed once more and struggled for breath. Why is he so mad? Usually he's very calm during battles. She cleared her mind even more and concentrated on what Sage was seeing. Life. She looked around and saw herself. She was covered in blood and mangled. Oh... That explains it. Well... here goes nothing. As soon as he was directly above her she stabbed the arrow into his heart.  
  
He started to fall, but Rowen kept a good grip on the arrow, keeping him upright. They started glowing, Rowen blue and Sage green.  
  
Sage blinked a few times, a hand on the arrow in his heart, "Rowen?" She nodded weakly and Sage collapsed onto her, causing more pain in her already sore and broken body. She saw Cale give her a wicked grin as her stood above her, but she let herself go to the blackness of unconsciousness-but not before she heard a mangled cry and something orange go flying into Cale.  
  
~~@~~  
  
Ryo walked into the quiet room. Cye and Kento had been in here before, but Rowen had refused to talk to them. It was like she was in her own little world. "Rowen. We need to talk." She didn't answer; just looked like she was deep in thought. "Rowen...you need to sleep." She opened her mouth to respond. "And don't give me that crap about getting sleep, I know you haven't." This time she just ignored him, looking at Sage with thoughtful eyes.  
  
"Ryo. I know you're concerned for me, but I have an idea. It's risky, though."  
  
He acted like he didn't hear her, "I know you're beating yourself up about hurting Sage, but it's ok. You were only saving yourself...and probably all of us, too...But starving and depriving yourself of sleep isn't the answer." He finished off in exasperation.  
  
She sighed, "Ryo...you're not listening to me! I can help him!"  
  
"I know that...What?"  
  
"It's not my fault. I didn't hurt him that much. I just made him see that it was me he was fighting."  
  
"But...the arrow..."  
  
She shook her head, "If he'd have tried, he could've woken up before me. The only thing is...he doesn't want to wake up."  
  
"I don't get it."  
  
"He feels so guilty about hurting me that he wants to die...at least, I think that's it. My arrow doesn't do much without my bow."  
  
"Yeah, but you stabbed it into him."  
  
"Um, hm."She nodded,"But his heart is strong. He is the warrior of light. My arrow, without using my surekill, wouldn't have done much because of all the light."  
  
He nodded slowly. It was really confusing, but he thought he understood, "So...what's your plan?"  
  
"I have to go in."  
  
"...in...?"  
  
"To his mind. I have to send my soul to his. Bring him away from the gates of death where he's put himself."  
  
"What will you need to do?"  
  
"Well...it should be easy if we're soul mates...And only a little harder if we're not....But that's just finding his soul. I'll have to resist Death, talk him into coming with me, then find my way back dragging Sage all the way."  
  
"Dragging him back?"  
  
"He's going to be weak. His soul will be lost without mine."  
  
"What will you need?"  
  
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/  
  
Cye and Kento arrived with Ryo the next day, bringing with them all the items that Rowen would need to bring Sage back to them.  
  
Cye had talked to the hospital staff saying that Rowen was going to perform a Japanese ritual to bring Sage's lost soul back.  
  
The staff just shrugged and said, "No fire tricks or ancient warriors," and let them go on.  
  
Rowen stood when they came in, "Well?"  
  
Cye spoke up while handing her a traditional Japanese Kimono, "No fire tricks or ancient warriors."  
  
Rowen let herself give a snort of laughter as she slipped herself into the dark blue silk robe, "too late."  
  
Mia walked in and shut the door softly behind her, "Here, Rowen. Let me do your hair."  
  
Mia swiftly put the short blue hair in a traditional Japanese bun and put two decorated chopsticks in it making an X. "Ok." Mia started tearing up. "Be careful. If you fail...We'll lose both of you." Mia gave Rowen a hug and walked out of the room to wait in the foyer.  
  
"Guys..."Rowen looked around at the serious faces of the Ronins,"I need you here to guide me back... OK?"  
  
"Yeah...We'll stay right here." Cye handed out everyone's armor orbs and the guys sat down to wait.  
  
Rowen put Sage's armor orb in his hand and held hers. "Sage," She spoke, her arms outstretched in front of her, hands clasped together, her eyes closed. "Bring me to where you are. Let me find you. Place my soul with yours." She grew quiet. Quite suddenly, she was plunged into darkness, her only light a dark blue glow eminating from her. She turned slowly in a circle, eyes closed, until she felt a weak pull from her left.  
  
She started walking towards it, but suddenly stopped. She had no limp. She wondered about this for a second but realized that this was her soul. Almost nothing could wound her soul.  
  
She continued walking until she found Sage. He was surronded by a weak green light and he sat on a rock in front of a large drop off. "Sage."  
  
He turned and faced her. "Rowen. You're beautiful."  
  
"Thanks for the compliment. But you really need to come back with me."  
  
"But remember what I did to you. I could never go back and face the guys after what I did."  
  
"Sage, look at me."  
  
"Rowen, it must've taken you a long time to heal."  
  
"I never will fully heal without you."  
  
"You're sweet. But-"  
  
"No. I'm serious. Concentrate."  
  
He did and she changed before his eyes. Her face was scarred and her hand twisted wickedly. She walked closer to him. Or hobbled to him was more like it. "But, Rowen. What happened?"  
  
"My soul isn't wounded. Only the body. So please, Sage come back. I can't do it alone."  
  
"Do what alone?" He said with scorn. "You only want me back so you can get rid of that scar. And your limp and be able to use your hand again."  
  
She looked at him, studying his face, "Do you really think I'm so shallow?"  
  
"Well?! What else would you want me for? You only want me to heal you and warm your bed."  
  
"Sage."  
  
"Well I'm not going to get my heart broken. I'm going to let myself go."  
  
"Sage."  
  
"Oh, God, Rowen. How selfish can you be?"  
  
"Sage, I'm pregnant."  
  
"Rowen-What?"  
  
"Sage," Tears started to well up. This wasn't when she was going to tell him. She was going to wait until he woke up. He would have so much good news. They would be so happy together. 


	2. chapter 2

Hi! Thanks for all who reviewed! AlexAlevia, of course you can use Rowen as a girl in one of your stories, just tell me which so I can read it. Rayestar Ikina, sorry you didn't like it. Please don't puke on me. Anyway, I forgot the disclaimer in my first part. Disclaimer: I don't own Ronin Warriors. There.  
  
****************************  
  
"Rowen!" Kento cried and jumped foward, catching her limp body as she fell.  
  
"Get a doctor!" Ryo yelled as he scrambled to help Kento. He would have gotten one, but they were in America. Cye was the only one left who spoke English.  
  
Cye ran out of the room as Kento checked to see if she was breathing. "Oh, God, Ryo. She's not breathing!"  
  
"Check her pulse!"  
  
"No, it's not there."  
  
An American doctor rushed in with two medics wheeling a stretcher. "She's got no pulse and she's not breathing!" Kento burst at the doctor leaning over them.  
  
The doctor yelled something at Cye and he quickly responded. The medics picked up Rowen and laid her on the stretcher. One of them began CPR and they rushed her out of the room.  
  
"Cye? What did you tell them?"  
  
"The same thing you tried to. He asked me what you said. It was a good thing you yelled it at him or he would have just brushed it off as concerned questions."  
  
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/  
  
"I won't go with you. You'd be better off without me. You raise her without a father with such a violent nature."  
  
"No, Sage. I know where we are. We're on the edge of death. I won't go without you. If you don't come with me, I'll throw myself off this cliff. I won't live without you. I won't raise our baby without you."  
  
"Oh, Rowen. You can't-that'd be throwing your life away."  
  
"What do you think you're doing?!"She walked up to the edge and turned back to him. "Do you know what I hear? Do you? I hear my mom. And my brothers. They're calling to me. They want me to come home." She started to tear up. Her voice cracked, "my brothers want me to come see them."  
  
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/  
  
"What's wrong with her?" Cye translated the question and waited patiently for the answer, while Kento and Ryo stood by Sage, waiting not so patiently.  
  
The doctor answered and waited, knowing the teenager would do his best to include his friends, even though it would be easier just to have the conversation and then relate the important details to them.  
  
The boy's eyes widened and he went pale. He spoke in Japanese to his friends and was immediantly met with amazed cries. The doctor realized that none of them had known. It was suddenly clear to him that the girl might have wanted to tell them herself. After all, he had no idea who the father would be. Who was he to tell?  
  
"How far?"  
  
"Two months. We're still not sure if she'll lose it or even if she'll pull out of it herself."  
  
The boy nodded and relayed the message. The big guy in the orange shut his eyes tightly and bowed his head. The blue eyed Japanese boy just stared in wonder at nothing. "Can we see her?"  
  
"I don't see why not. Just be careful. She's fallen into a coma. We had to put her on a breathing machine and there are a lot of various tubes going in and out of her body. Don't trip on the tubes, you may kill her."  
  
The boy nodded and followed him without giving the information to his friends. The doctor stopped about halfway down the hall, "Aren't you going to tell your friends?"  
  
"After I see her."  
  
"Ah. Are you the father?"  
  
"What? No, oh no. Just a close friend who wants to see her before anyone else does."  
  
The doctor nodded and continued walking down to the room. She lay pale on the bed, blue hair scattered about her head. Her stomach protuded just slightly and it made Cye wonder why he hadn't noticed it before.  
  
She had been more moody lately, crying at the drop of a hat. Sage had been on edge, wondering what he had done to make her cry.  
  
He sat down next to her and the doctor left. He stroked her hand, slightly afraid he would disturb the delicate tubes running into her hands. "Rowen. I know. Bring him home quick. For your little child. Please." He sat back, still holding her hand carefully, and waited.  
  
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/  
  
"The tugging is getting stronger, Sage. I don't know how much longer I can hold out. My family is calling me, 'Touma, come home.' Sage, I want to go home."  
  
"Rowen. Before I make my decision. I need to think." His glowing body 'sat' on what appeared to be a rock. "Let me ask you something. I stabbed you in the abdomen. How did the baby survive?"  
  
She shrugged in a non-concerned way, looking over the edge to see if she could see her family. "The child wasn't scratched. Maybe she will enherit one of our armors one day. But she won't if you don't give her a chance." She looked at him quietly and whispered, "What will we name her?"  
  
"What about Micale? I've always thought that was a pretty name."  
  
Rowen smiled, not noticing the icy-black hand that crawled toward her from the edge of the cliff.  
  
*********************  
  
There. Next chapter soon! 


	3. chapter 3

Cye looked down at his friend, concerned. She hadn't mentioned anything like this. Her heartbeat seemed steady, but he wasn't quite sure. Was it his imagination, or was she growing paler by the second? And was her hand growing colder? He looked back at the heart monitor. Beep..beep...beep....beep.....beep......beep...... beep.......beep........beep..........beep............beep...............beee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-  
  
He ran to the door.  
  
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/  
  
The icy-black hand grasped her ankle, "SAGE!" She screamed as the pain of death caught her. The ground she was 'standing' on was suddenly gone and she started to fall. Her hands flew above her head and her hair was whooshed above her.  
  
"ROWEN!" Sage dove for her, seeing her fall painfully slow. He caught her hand and pulled as hard as he could.  
  
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/  
  
Cye ran to the door and screamed for a doctor. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Would that infernal beep ever stop? He just wanted it to go back to the steady beeping it was before.  
  
A doctor walked in and checked all the vital signs. He shook his head sadly and turned to the young English teenager standing near the door. "I'm sor-"  
  
"Isn't there anything you can do?! CPR or something?!" Cye broke in rushing to his friend's bedside.  
  
The doctor shook his head, "CPR might work, but there's no gaurentee."  
  
"So you're not even trying?!"  
  
"Son, listen to me. At the most she would have lived for only a few more days. There's nothing we can do. It's better to let her go now. Please understand, I've been in this business a long time and I've never actually heard of somebody dropping dead," he reached over and turned off the heart monitor, silencing the beep. "I don't know if it will help, but she did live longer than we had expected."  
  
"You don't understand! She wasn't supposed to die!"  
  
"I agree, she was very young-"  
  
"NO! Please. Listen to me carefully. She was going to try to find his soul- "  
  
"Son, are you OK? I know this is hard for you, but still-"  
  
"Yes," he broke in quickly, "yes, I'll be fine. She was li... she was my sister...I...can I have a few minutes alone with her?"  
  
"Of course," the doctor nodded and looked at him compassionatly, as if it was a normal occurance for teenage boys telling him their friend died while soul-hunting. He left and quietly shut the door behind him.  
  
"Rowen. You have to come back quick," he grasped her hand and put their kanji balls together. He felt the two glow. 


	4. chapter 4

K. Here it is: The Last Chapter...except for the EPILOGUE!!  
  
**********  
  
"Good God, what a ride." Rowen sat up slowly, "Ooooh...head rush..."  
  
"Rowen!" She brought her hands up to cover her eyes. "You're awake!"  
  
"Un..." She waved her hand dismissively at the English boy she knew was next to her. She felt arms circle her in a hug and she instinctively hugged back.  
  
Cye whispered, "Act like you're my sister. Trust me."  
  
Rowen whispered back, "But I'm not English, you dork."  
  
"Good start. Just try."  
  
She sighed and put on the best English accent she could, "I feel like I've been run over by a truck."  
  
Cye laughed. "I've never seen anything like this before," the doctor said at the image of the two "siblings" hugging after the girl woke up. He truely hadn't seen anyone be legally dead for 7 minutes and come out completely fine afterwards. "I'm going to have to do some tests to make sure but I think you'll be just fine. However I don't know about your baby," his words made both sober quickly.  
  
Rowen nodded and said quietly, "Can I see my friend?" Her English accent was still good but a little odd with her New York accent mixed in, "I...I need to tell him...Just so he knows..."  
  
The doctor nodded in understanding, "Unfortunantly, your friend is not awake-"  
  
She shook her head, "No! He's awake! Trust me! That's where I was I had to bring him back! I...I..." She trailed off and sobbed into Cye's shoulder, "I failed."  
  
"Perhaps your accident has had more repercutions than I originally thought..."  
  
"Doctor," Cye held Rowen's sob racked form in his arms, "could you check? Just to put my sister's mind at ease? Please?"  
  
The doctor sighed, "Only to put her at ease..."  
  
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/  
  
The doctor could see no point to checking on the boy. He had been in a coma for about a month, in his professional opinion, he wouldn't ever wake up.  
  
He walked into the Japanese boy's room and came in contact with the biggest shock of his life. The boy was sitting up and talking to his friends like nothing had happened.  
  
He nervously cleared his throat to attract the attention of the three in the room. Why didn't I bring that boy with me to translate? He mentally kicked himself. "Uh...can anyone understand me?"  
  
"I can," the blonde Japanese boy spoke, his violet eyes gleaming with worry, "How is Rowen?"  
  
The doctor was surprised, "How do you know about Rowen? You've been in a coma for about a month. You've had no brain activity."  
  
"I know. But...it's too hard to explain. Just how is she?" The other two were looking at them in confusion. The boy saw this and told them something in Japanese and returned to looking attentivly at the doctor.  
  
"I'm not sure. I have to do a complete CAT scan to make sure. I think she might have some brain damage due to being legally dead for 7 minutes and there's no telling about..." he trailed off, the girl probably wanted to tell these boys herself but she ruined that for all but one. He wasn't going to do it again. Doctor patient confidentiality, after all.  
  
The boy's eyes went wide with fear, "About what?! Rowen was dead for 7 minutes?...oh yeah..." he mumbled to himself, "And the baby?"  
  
Now it was the doctor's eyes that went wide, "How did you know about the baby?"  
  
"..um...the guys told me.." the boy's seemingly naturaly calm disappeared as his eyes darted guiltily.  
  
The doctor nodded. He didn't believe the boy but he'd seen too much today to actually want to hear an excuse, "Let's get you checked out and I might just let you visit her if you feel up to it."  
  
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/  
  
The doctor wheeled Sage into Rowen's room where she was lying quietly in the bed. Cye was asleep, twisted in a chair next to her bed. The window shades were open and the night sky was visible outside. He wasn't surprised they had both fallen asleep. He felt like falling asleep, too, but he wanted to see Rowen.  
  
"I'll leave you guys alone," the doctor said as he wheeled Sage up to Rowen's bed.  
  
The doctor left, "Rowen?"  
  
She stirred quietly, not waking up, "Sage."  
  
"Hey...Come on, Rowen...wake up..."  
  
She grudgingly opened her eyes, "Sage," she said with a smile.  
  
"Hey," he hugged her with a silly grin. She started crying. "Shhhh..it's going to be alright, don't worry. It's ok, sweetie, shhh.."  
  
"They said...they said...the baby..." She bumbled.  
  
"What about the baby?" He asked, pulling away so he could look into her face.  
  
"They said it may not have made it! Oh, Sage!" She flung herself once more into his arms and sobbed.  
  
"Nonono..this baby is our child, Rowen...it's going to be a Ronin Warrior! It will survive. Don't worry sweetie, everything will be ok."  
  
"Sage?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Can I go home?"  
  
"Not yet sweetie. Not quite yet."  
  
"No, I mean back home. To New York. I'm just a little home sick..."  
  
"Don't worry. We'll go to New York and visit as soon as you get out of the hospital. But we're raising the baby in Japan...I don't want him or her to have your damn accent."  
  
She smiled and giggled through her tears and they knew that everything was going to be ok.  
  
***********  
  
Ok...that was the last chapter. Now onto the epilogue and my masterpiece will finally be completed!!! 


	5. epilogue

The girl ran. Her armor and her heritage made her faster than any other human on the planet but the thing chasing her was not a human. She darted onto the street and skidded to a halt under a street lamp revealing her hybrid armor. Deep blue and emerald greed molded together providing beautiful contrasts on the metal. On her back a bow was stuck to her arrow holder, in her hands an elegant no-datchi. She turned to face the being chasing her. 'No more running,' she thought, determined.  
  
The being stopped a few paces from the determined warrior and smirked. "Who are you, small warrior?"  
  
She spat her reply with malice, but a small smile graced her features, "Everything you should fear."  
  
The being laughed harshly, "Why, small one?"  
  
"Because," she rushed forward to attack, "my," she struck a blow at each word, "father, was, Halo, and, my, mother, was, Strata." She finished hitting him and jumped back into the glow the street lamp provided.  
  
"Ah. I see. So Spirit and Sky have gotten together? And you are the child of them?"  
  
"That is what I said."  
  
The being just smirked again and proceeded to attack. They fought, neither willing to give in to pain. A call distracted the two, "Hey, SS! Want some help?" Four other samurai jumped down to help the mysterious samurai.  
  
The girl smiled wildly, "I could use it."  
  
"And you are?"  
  
A boy in red armor replied for each, "I am Riou, son of Wildfire." He pointed each out in turn, "This is Samantha," a girl in light blue, "daughter of Torrent. This is Ling," a boy in orange, "son of Hardrock. This is Ceru," a boy in brown, "son of Venom. The only warlord to survive the war, and I believe you've met Savannah Sena daughter of Strata and Halo."  
  
"You killed our parents," a soft British accent accused.  
  
"They were living peacefully and you came and killed them in their sleep. Not only the ones who fought but our mothers too! They didn't do anything!" A scratchy voice all but screamed at him.  
  
"You didn't even give them the chance to fight! To stand up and defend themselves! You killed them as though they were cowards!" A booming voice shouted the accusations.  
  
"Our fathers weren't cowards." A dangerously soft voice said, "They would have fought and saved our mothers if you had given them the chance."  
  
The girl from before spoke up, a strange Brooklyn accent adding emotion to her otherwise emotionless voice, "You don't even deserve the chance we're giving you now."  
  
The five young samurai moved in closer, trapping the being in the middle of them all.  
  
"Say goodbye."  
  
*******  
  
AN: yay!! i'm done!! thanks to all who've reviewed and i'm terribly sorry if i've offended anyone by making rowen a girl. but, i don't really care because it's my own twisted world here so , ^.^ Nyyy!! Tschuss! 


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